


Periphery

by ArtemisDiana



Series: Towards The Crimson Dawn [2]
Category: The Avengers (2012), The Avengers (Marvel) - All Media Types
Genre: F/M, Gen, M/M, Multi
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2012-11-19
Updated: 2014-01-12
Packaged: 2017-11-19 00:53:55
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 1,016
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/567209
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ArtemisDiana/pseuds/ArtemisDiana
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>This is a series of scenes that didn't fit into Towards The Crimson Dawn, and they'll be uploaded as stand alone chapters. It's not necessary to read Crimson Dawn, but it helps.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. To Collar

     Clint dropped out of the ceiling quietly, eyes blank and one hand clenched tight around the case holding his collar. Without Sir, he had no anchor, no rules or structure to fall back on and it was beginning making his brain itch. Clint could only hope that Dr. Banner wouldn't think any worse of him for what he was about to ask, but he struck a chord somewhere deep in Clint, a slight sense of familiarity that was similar to Sir without being the same. The door slid open silently, and he padded into the lab, searching the other man out.

     "Clint? Do you need something?"

     Clint's tongue died as he tried to form the words, throat closing until his breath hitched, and Bruce's hands stilled as he waited patiently, head tilting in curiosity when he caught sight of the case. He set it on the counter in front of him, a shield between himself and the doctor, flimsy as it may be, but necessary. Clint watched the realisation sweep across the other man's face as he carefully unlocked and lifted the lid, and held his ground as Bruce stepped forward.

     "Jarvis, I want the lab in privacy mode, and Tony is not to be let in under any circumstances."

     Bruce's voice was quiet, but strong, and Clint could feel himself settle slightly at the steel underneath his words.

     "Understood, Dr. Banner. Privacy mode engaged."

     Clint stared as Bruce cleared a space on the counter, then firmly asked him to sit, and when Clint had done so, Bruce gently held out a hand for the collar.

     "Clint. Was Phil Coulson your Sir?"

     Clint nodded, reaching up to pull a set of dog tags from beneath his shirt, a simple ring threaded onto the chain as well.

     "Was he your only Sir? For how long?"

     " First and only. I had been with Sir for almost five years."

     "I'll not ask you to call me Sir, as that was Agent Coulson's title, but you may call me Doctor if you feel the need. I will do my best to provide what you need, but you must let me know if I am missing anything."

     "I will, Doctor."

     And Clint could breathe again. Doctor buckled the collar around his neck, and Clint could feel his equilibrium begin to steady. He would be alright now.


	2. That Would Be Telling

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> He knows he needs to do this, to tell someone about this, so that he can be planned around, figured into how things will happen. Tony's his best (only) choice, but that doesn't mean he has to like it.

     He's not even quite sure that he  _can_ trust Tony with this secret, afraid that it's too big, too awful for even a Stark of his caliber to handle. Somebody needed to know, though, need to be able to plan around it (around him), and Agent Coulson wasn't an option anymore. Directer Fury was certainly out of the question, as was Maria Hill, their motives and morals too ambiguous for him to trust them anymore then he had to already, and Agent Sitwell was still getting settled into his new position of 'Avengers liason', though Clint was taking bets on how long it would take to break him. Clint and Natasha weren't suitable either, nor were Thor and Doctor Banner, for various and sundry reasons, lists upon lists twining around each other in the back of his mind. The two assassins were still tied too tightly to Shield, just as likely to be out of reach on a deep-cover mission in another country as defending New York from the threat of the week. Thor had his duties and obligations to Asgard, and Steve refused to add even more weight to his already heavy burden, especially after the Incident. He'd thought long and hard about Doctor Banner, and he was still considering telling him anyways, but until they had a handle on how much of him was subsumed by the Hulk, and how much of his memories the Hulk retained, it wouldn't be enough. That only left Tony, and he hoped that this wouldn't damage the friendship that they'd built up over the last several months.

     He just wished that Bucky was there to help him, push him into actually saying what he needed to. The first time he'd ever tried to explain what was going on in his head, Bucky had had to drag the stuttering, halting, pieced together story out of him, one too many instances of something not quite right raising the hair on the back of Bucky's neck. Steve had been brave, yes, and brilliant, for all that they couldn't scrape up the money to send him to college, but he'd never been quite this cold, this calculating, even in the face of the worst bullies back home. Bucky hadn't been sure what was happening with him, whether it was something dug out of him in basic training, or an unforeseen side affect of the serum, but they'd dealt with 'The Captain' as best they could manage when he made an appearance.

     With any luck, Tony would be able to figure out was wrong with him, and compensate for him while they were in the field.


	3. A Long Time Coming

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> He'd always known that his parents' threads hadn't met, but he hadn't expected his mother's soulmate to try and kill him while he was in Afghanistan.

     Out of everything that had gone wrong over the last few months, between the kidnapping and the reactor and losing Yinsen despite everything, finding out that Obie was the one to try and kill him was probably the biggest shock. He'd always looked at Obie like a second father, someone who'd stepped up to take the place that Howard Stark could never bring himself to fill, and to lose that trust left a hole in him that he wasn't sure he could ever patch up. He'd known from the beginning that his mother and Obie had been soulmates, though he wasn't sure they'd ever figured it out for themselves, their thread strung loose but still the bright red of attraction, and he hadn't really contemplated what it had meant, then, even though his parents quite obviously only stayed together to keep up appearances.

     Boy had that come back to bite him in the ass.

     His mother had told him once, that as unhappy as she was, she never regretted marrying Howard.

     He wondered now if it was because she never would have met Obie without him.


End file.
